Housing Options

• Shelter: SOS provides temporary shelter for families up to three months. We shelter approximately 60 families each year, including 100 children. We move families with children from the chaos of homelessness directly into a home and offer caring, intensive supportive services to help families become stable.

To access shelter, please visit our Housing Crisis Center.

• Transitional Housing: Families must be a participant in a local shelter program to be eligible for transitional housing. SOS offers transitional housing for up to two years. We house approximately 16 families at one time who are selected from family shelters throughout Washtenaw County.

  Our program is unique in that we use a scattered-site model, with each family living in a separate apartment throughout Washtenaw County. Transitional housing units are income-based rent subsidies. The family pays 30 percent of their monthly income for rent, and SOS pays the remaining amount. After the families complete the program, they can remain in their apartments and pay rent on their own. Also, families that live in transitional housing have access to intensive case management, children’s services, and employability supports.

  To access transitional housing, please contact your shelter case manager or shelter advocate.

• Housing First: Housing First is an alternative to traditional options for providing shelter to homeless families. The Housing First Program rapidly moves homeless families into permanent, affordable housing instead of prolonging a family’s experience in temporary shelters. We tailor our supportive services to meet the needs of each family using a combination of supportive services to help them increase their skills in job readiness, parenting and household management. Of the 24 families living in Housing First, 20 of them have maintained their housing beyond two years. Families in the program have shown significant improvements in their income, education, and family stability.

  Housing is available based on current funding and housing vouchers. For more information, please contact your shelter case manager.